Fanny Bullock Workman (1859–1925) was an American geographer,
cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineer, notably in the
Himalaya. She was one of the first female professional mountaineers; she
not only explored but also wrote about her adventures. She set several
women's altitude records, published eight travel books with her husband,
and championed women's rights and women's suffrage. Educated in the
finest schools available to women, she was introduced to climbing in New
Hampshire. She married William Hunter Workman, and traveled the world
with him. The couple had two children, but left them in schools and with
nurses. Workman saw herself as a New Woman who could equal any man. The
Workmans wrote books about each trip and Workman frequently commented on
the state of the lives of women that she saw. They explored several
glaciers and conquered several mountains of the Himalaya, eventually
reaching 23,000 feet (7,000 m), a women's altitude record at the time.
Workman became the first woman to lecture at the Sorbonne and the second
to speak at the Royal Geographical Society. She received many medals of
honor and was recognized as one of the foremost climbers of her day.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Bullock_Workman>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1341:
Italian scholar and poet Petrarch took the title poet laureate
at a ceremony in Rome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch>
1740:
War of the Austrian Succession: The Royal Navy captured the
Spanish ship of the line Princesa and mustered her into British service.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Princess_(1740)>
1820:
A Greek peasant discovered a statue of a woman with its arms
missing—the Venus de Milo (pictured)—on the Aegean island of Milos.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de_Milo>
1968:
BOAC Flight 712 suffered an engine fire shortly after take-off
from London Heathrow Airport, leading to deaths of five people on board,
including flight attendant Barbara Jane Harrison, who was later awarded
a posthumous George Cross for her heroism during the accident.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Jane_Harrison>
2013:
Two Sunni Muslim Islamic extremist groups, the Islamic State of
Iraq and the Al-Nusra Front, merged to become the Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant, also known as ISIS.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cross swords:
(idiomatic) To quarrel or argue with someone, to have a dispute with
someone.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cross_swords>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
If we only have love We will never bow down We'll be tall as the
pines Neither heroes nor clowns. If we only have love Then we'll only be
men And we'll drink from the Grail To be born once again. Then with
nothing at all But the little we are We'll have conquered all time All
space, the sun, and the stars!
--Jacques Brel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Brel>